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9.18.2012

I am Charlotte - I speak for the trees.

Testimony of Forrest Cammack, retired minister and missionary, Twin Rocks Board member, regular volunteer and great friend of Charlotte Macy. "I remember one time that we had bought a lot of seedling trees from a defunct nursery near Salem, to be planted out at the camp. Now, I had just cleared a very nice open spot according to Don Lindgren’s plans, for a parking place, and a few days later, I came back and Lo, and Behold! It was all planted with those trees! and rest assured - I didn’t take those trees out. She liked trees. She liked beauty, not only in trees but in buildings.We were at a time when we needed to expand, and to winterize our buildings, to take on a year-round ministry. That took a great deal of planning and work. But from past experiences of hearing Charlotte at Silverton - often we would sneak away from Rosedale and go to be blessed by her ministry - I knew she could handle it. I remember that one of her seed growers in her congregation said “Why, she could almost come out and take over the farm - She knows what to do next.” She had so many abilities that she could almost build a church single-handed. She had the ability to buy wisely, and she was so capable in so many ways. But she had a vision for Twin Rocks, and so we began.

I happened to be chairman of the buildings and grounds committee, and worked with her these many years along with the superintendent on the grounds. It was a blessing to work with her. We began the renovations and enlargements with the Friendship Center and our dining hall. And of course, we didn’t do it ourselves, we had lots of volunteer help - with her direction and help. She was an inspiration. From there we decorated and re-worked the chapel and Hadley Hall. We put heat in, and we added on to the shop, and built an arts building.

Landscaping was continual, and of course - looking out for those trees. All this to make the camp a place of beauty - to make it useful in winning souls to Christ. We built a new cook’s residence, and you know, we had to change our plans about where to put the house because of a great big stump. It was a beautiful stump with sisal brush around the bottom, and with a hemlock tree growing out of it and huckleberries. That was just like a vase to Charlotte - it was beautiful. And we have many of these stumps around the camp. We almost had to blindfold Charlotte if we had to take a stump out. When we built the house for her, we had to use some dynamite on a stump and I believe she made herself absent on that day, because she loved trees and she loved beauty, and even to trim trees was difficult for her. But I appreciate that beauty in our camp. And many have come and expressed appreciation for the grounds and the buildings and the way that we kept them up and made the camp a place of beauty. We were beginning to get cramped and she had a vision for more land and more acreage, so that we would have more building sites and more trails to make it a real camp. For large camps to be certified, many acres are required. So we were looking for acreage and it came about that we were given the opportunity to buy 83 acres to the south and the east of us to expand our camp. That was a vision that Charlotte had for the camp and many prayers were made for this project. And it came to pass, and on this acreage there is a mountain, well, a hill back of us anyway, but we call it a mountain and on this mountain the Lord had given us a miracle well, which is a 60 gallon a minute well, and in the spring we hope to build a reservoir to supply all our water needs and we are thankful for that. We didn’t see that when we purchases this and we are planning on calling this mountain, Charlotte's Mountain. You can climb it and look out on the beautiful Pacific Ocean and see the ships and you can see up and down the beach a great distance. It is a blessing to have this land."